Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-164908 discloses a vehicle signal light attached to a vehicle sideview mirror. The vehicle signal light is a lighting unit including a turn indicator light and a daytime running light integrated with each other. The daytime running light can be configured such that an LED and a light guide are installed within a lighting chamber defined by a housing main body and an outer lens. The outer lens and the housing main body can be attached to the inside of a housing of the sideview mirror, and a horizontally long opening portion can be formed in the front face of the housing of the sideview mirror. Then, the outer lens can be partly fit to the opening portion. The light guide can face to the opening portion so as to extend along the opening portion in the right-to-left direction. The LED can be face to the incident surface of the light guide at one end thereof in the longitudinal direction. When the LED is lit, the light emitted from the LED can exit through the light exiting surface of the light guide as a surface light source (surface-shaped emission light), and the light can be projected outwardly through the outer lens.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-100653 also discloses a vehicle signal light attached to a sideview mirror. In this vehicle signal light, a partition wall can be installed within a light chamber defined by a housing main body and an outer lens, so that the light chamber can be divided into a space on the outer lens side and a space on the housing main body side by the partition wall. A plurality of LEDs can be accommodated in the space on the housing main body side. Further, a plurality of openings can be formed in the partition wall. A reflecting wall portion can extend from part of the edge of the opening in the partition wall on the outer lens side, so that the reflecting wall portion can cover the opening. The tip end of the reflecting wall portion can be separated away from the surface of the partition wall on the outer lens side. A reflecting surface can be formed on the surface of the reflecting wall portion on the partition wall side. When the LEDs are lit, the light emitted from the LEDs can pass through the openings and be reflected by the reflecting surface, thereby being projected outwardly through the outer lens.
In the daytime running light described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-164908, when the LED is turned off, an observer can observe the light guide through the outer lens, whereby the outer appearance may deteriorate. In addition, when the LED is lit, the light exiting surface of the light guide can be brighter at a region near the LED and become darker away from that region near the LED.
In the vehicle signal light described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-100653, when the LEDs are turned off, an observer cannot see the LEDs but can observe the partition wall and the reflecting wall portion, whereby the outer appearance may deteriorate.